Narrator: “What are you doing?” Flatmate asked warily.
This is where I left you, dear readers.
Sighing, the cold and disappointment seeping into every fiber of her being, Ruthie looked into the sky and relinquished control over the dream of seeing the famed Nasrid Palace.
Ruthie stopped looking at the sky and said something intelligent.
“Um…drinking the rain?” Flatmate gave Ruthie a weird look (as one ought to when faced with such a response) and kept walking towards the Alhambra.
The Alhambra. Right. Even if they couldn’t see the Nasrid Palaces, they could still go to the rest of the Alhambra palacial complex. Ruthie followed after Flatmate and they arrived at the Alhambra ten minutes later.
“Look! That’s probably the line for the Nasrid Palaces.” Ruthie said, gesturing towards a long line. “They’re probably all for 9:30 or 10:00 am.” In answer, the gatekeeper at the head of the line said, “Last call for anyone for 9:00 am!” Ruthie and Flatmate took one look at each other and sprinted over to the line.
“We have the tickets! Look, here on my phone. Shoot, it’s not really responding with all the water on the screen, but look it’s–it’s kind of working,” Ruthie said desperately, trying to pull up the ticket.
The gatekeeper squinted at the ticket, found the date and time, and let Ruthie and Flatmate through.
They had made it. They had made it.
They gleefully passed the large line just to join another long line leading into the Nasrid Palaces. These final 20 minutes standing in the rain insured that Ruthie was well and truly soaked.
And then they were in. They had made it.
Ruthie, shoving narrator to the side: Sorry, sorry, just have to quickly jump in here before you say anything. First of all, in my defense, my nice camera phone had just broken, and the screen was wet, so that’s why the photos are not that great. Second of all, if you go into any part of the Alhambra, I highly recommend that you rent an audio tour. We didn’t do this, and it would have greatly enhanced the experience. We saw the beauty and architecture but didn’t know any of the history or reasons behind it.
Narrator, dryly (unlike Ruthie lol): Thank you for undermining my authority. I suppose I have to tell you now that most of the informative information in here is just from googling the respective rooms in the palaces. Anyway, the palaces were stunning.
The oratory was resorted in 1917 after being largely ruined by the explosion of a magazine in 1590. The carvings on its walls are from the Qur’an and others are praises to Muhammed V.
Ruthie, leaning over to the mic: It was everything we had hoped for–
Narrator, grabbing the mic back: It was everything they had hoped for.
Ruthie: –really nice walls, so many nice geometric–
Narrator: The walls were beautiful, all adorned with stunning geometric carvings.
Really, just so many incredible wall carvings and decorations.
Tired of seeing walls yet, readers?
TOO BAD.
Ok, ok, now we’re done with walls. The level of detail everywhere was just baffling in its beauty and the extent of the detail.
But far from done with the rest of the palaces.
The Court of the Myrtles is named for the myrtle bushes that surround the pond.
The Hall of the Abencerrajes is apparently famous due to a legend. The Abencerrajes were a prominent clan within the kingdom of Granada in the 1400s. It’s said that one of the members of the Abencerrajes fell in love with the sultana, and was caught climbing up to his lady’s window. Sultan Moulay Hacén invited thirty warriors of the Abencerraje clan to a banquet in the Hall of the Abencerrajes and beheaded them all.
Whether or not the love story happened or was an excuse to murder the warriors is disputed. Whether the story happened at all is disputed. Whether I’m representing the story well at all is disputed because I know I’ve found at least two versions.
Ruth: Bro it’s probably wrong.
Narrator: glares
This is the main courtyard of the palace. It was commisioned by Muhammed V and started to be constructed between 1362-91. The courtyard is divided into four parts, which symbolize parts of the world, and the four channels of water the four rivers of Paradise. The fountain (with the lions) symbolizes the Sultan, who “smothers with his graces all his subjects and lands, as water wets the gardens”. Some research suggests that the lions came from the house of Yusuf ibn Nagrela, a Jewish vizier, and that they represent the twelve tribes of Israel.
This little room looks into the garden and has inscriptions praising Allah and Mohammed V and poetry carved into it.
The Nasrid Palaces were beautiful, intricate, open, incredibly crowded, and soaking wet. But it had been worth it. There are other rooms that didn’t photograph well because they weren’t well lit, but it was all very lovely.
Ruthie and Flatmate left the Palaces and decided to rally their spirits by buying dry socks, an umbrella, gloves, and a sweatshirt for Ruthie (can you tell whose inexperience is showing?).
A couple hours later, they made it back to the Alhambra complex. This time, they went to the other areas of the Alhambra. They spent the most time in the Generalife and the area around it.
The Generalife was the summer palace/hunting lodge of the Nasrid rulers. It was a refuge of sorts from the palace. These were built during the rule of Muhammed II, who reigned from 1273-1302, Muhammed III (1302-09), and were redecorated by Abu I-Walid Isma-il (1313-24). The gardens as they appear now were started in 1931 and finished by Francisco Prieto Moreno in 1951.
Ruthie and Flatmate hurried to the Alcazaba, which was the oldest part of the complex, but it had closed basically by the time they got there. As a consequence, this is about all they got:
Ruthie: They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked! Tricksy! False!
Narrator: But that was ok, because Ruthie and Flatmate had gotten to see 90% of the Alhambra. They had done it. They had braved the rain, the cold, and made it to their goal even if they were mostly frozen a good portion of the time. And now it was time to go make and eat spaghetti in the hostel because the food in the center of Granada was so ridiculously expensive.
And go and eat spaghetti they did.
The Truth By Ruth 
